What's going on in the Poloverse

Agreed. Too much faffing about, what next? Change of dates? Oh wait... They did that already! ;)

Change of continent?

Haha worlds in UK pls

Rouge Worlds

From http://www.whbpcvii.org/

The tournament will do this with a more accurate staging system for each Swiss Round (Bayesian), a more staggered advancement into the final elimination round (i.e. no teams from day 1 automatically advances and there’s less of a pressure cooker for the mid table) and a new final elimination system which still encompasses a second chance mechanism but is fairer for teams. The elimination round has all teams playing to an identical schedule and importantly both the teams in the grand final will have played the same number of games.

Importantly, this is how it breaks down:
Day 1
48 teams, split into 2 groups of 24 teams. Each team plays 5 rounds of Bayesian Swiss Rounds. (Average wait time between games of each team is 2 games).

Day 2
The now ranked teams are then merged into 2 evenly ranked groups of 16 teams. The field is now down to 32 teams. Each team plays a further 4 rounds of Bayesian Swiss Rounds to determine a final and more accurate seeding. (Average wait time between games of each team is 2 games).

Day 3
The top 20 teams proceed to the elimination round. These teams are split into 4 ranked groups of 5 teams. Each group plays a full round robin (4 games each) with the top 2 teams proceeding. The final 8 teams play out a single elimination final (quarter, semi and grand final)

The changes:
All games to be 15 minutes with an uncapped goal limit. The grand final will be 20 minutes. Dropping down the number of teams on day 2 meant an easier schedule and more chance for teams to rest. The final day of round robin still allows teams to mess up a game and proceed through while having a more realistic/fairer system to proceed into the top 8. Single elimination games will be more exciting than double elimination while also being much easier to follow. All teams play opponents that have played exactly the same amount of games. The two teams in the final would have played 7 games in total (32 team double elimination sees a team play a minimum of 6 games and maximum of 10 games). We felt that this combination is a much more honest and professional method which brings it in line with all other similar sports.

So... anyone fancy hosting WHBPC2015?

I think thats a good format.

Single elim quarters and semi finals are much better.

What are the arguments against the new format?

I have to say I don't see the problem with the proposed format either

I quite like that.

Antipodeans doin it right.

"FORMAT ADDITION:

Timaru will now hold a "Plate" tournament for the 16 teams that are knocked out on day 1.

These bottom 16 teams from day one play in a 4 pools of 4 round robin on the evening of day two. On day three a single elimination final of the top 4 (or 8) is played for the “Plate” (as opposed to Cup) between the required breaks during the championship finals.

There a few more reasons that Timaru think the Plate Final that will be brilliant for this particular tournament:

• We want teams to come to Timaru with the assurance that they'll be able to play as much polo as possible, in an a high intensity field for the best chances of gaining experience and skills.
  
• These 16 teams would otherwise have only played 5 games but will now play at least 8 (the same as all other teams in attendance).
  
• Fantastic entertainment value on the Friday night and between finals on day 3
  
• The cut-off does have the effect of making every game matter, from day one.
  
• For teams who doubt their ability to reach the top 20, the possibility of playing in the Plate Final on day three in front of a big crowd could be a big drawcard in coming out to New Zealand - along with the mountains, lakes, beaches and people of course wink emoticon.
  
  

This is important as we know we are putting on a fantastic event; the more of the poloverse who come to the week long Bike Polo festival and various satellite tournaments the better."

For anyone who I haven't managed to invite on Facebook:

Earlier this year Birmingham bike polo lost one of our polo players; Viki - She was a super fun person who brightened up our polo sessions every time she was there! We'd like to honour this memory with an awesome throw-in day just how she would have liked it!

Come down/up to Birmingham and play a full day of throw-ins with us, eat BBQ food, drink a couple of beers and enjoy the sunshine (can't promise this).

If anyone wants to stay over on the Saturday evening before then we can put you up. Just let us know.

It's on Sunday August 2nd and we'll be there from 10am. The address is our regular throw-in court: 145 Alcester St Birmingham, West Midlands B12 0PJ

Please come along and bring your friends!

I'm in France... But also that's the Pru ride... So polo playing Londoners should be congregating by St pauls... Don't suppose you can come to London instead! (Beagle winky)

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask. A few years back (2012 I think) we stumbled on a bike polo event at Bethnal Green that I remember (seemingly mistakenly now I'm researching) as the world championships.

It was an awesome event. (I remember a German team in crazy control of fixed gear chopper style bikes, and a "short shorts" final).

Can anyone tell me what that was and whether there's anything on a similar scale in London this summer?

Thanks for any info.

That would've been the London open and the German team would've been radball players. This year will be the first time since it started it ain't happening, hopefully back next year though.

Are you interested in playing?

No interest in playing - not got the skills. When I say "researching", I meant I was trying to determine what event we actually saw.

It was a fun day, and I'd like to go and watch again, if there's something similar (ie, a decent sized/organised tournament) on this summer in London.

Gah. That's a shame. Thanks for letting me know.

radball players

That's it. They were nuts. Like they were born on bicycles.

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/132743/

There's a much smaller one day tournament happening quite soon.

Sorry for hitting so many of you with my forearms (while they where on my bars).
I am aware now of the illegality of that type of hit.

Special apologies to @Vit @SuperLuca @SteadyCam @GranthamMiles and @coventry_eagle

The Worlds were in Geneva in 2012 so a lot of the players from outside Europe stayed for London Open.

Awwww.... <3 <3 <3